06 Dec A Beginner’s Guide to Brushwork, Lesson #14

I’m so excited for brushwork, lesson #14! This lesson from the book, Brushwork Elementary Brush-Forms by Marion Hudson is a lesson on the violet. It’s using the brush forms that we’ve been learning in our previous lesson to make a different type of flower and leaves. Growing up in the north, these were what violets looked like. We always had violets in our home because they were one of my Mom’s favorite flowers. My Dad would buy them for her regularly and she would always have a small pot of them on the dining room table.

Our book, however, shows a somewhat different version of the violet. It’s more of a red color (maybe violets come in different colors?) and the flower pedals are thin and pointed. Since the book was written in England, it makes me wonder if English are different from what I am used to. Either way, it’s not something that I’m going to get caught up on. We’re going to follow the instructions and colors in the book. Maybe when we’re practicing, we can bring in variations of color and shape.

Redrawing the Design on Our Grid Paper

As we’ve mentioned in previous lessons, your grid paper is probably going to be different than that in the book. I say this because I looked everywhere for grid paper that was similar to the book yet never found it. So, we settled for what we could find. I would estimate that the grid paper in the book is about 1/2″ squares. Our grid paper is twice that, with 1″ square grid paper. As well, our grid paper is probably a different size overall. Because of this, the pattern in the book does not translate well onto my 1″ grid paper, so with each lesson I am redrawing the design with a few adjustments, as you can see below.

Materials Needed

• The book, Brushwork, Elementary Brush-Forms by Marion Hudson (also available online HERE)
• 1″ absorbent grid paper
• Watercolor paints
• Watercolor Paintbrush, we used a Princeton Velvetouch , round size 6
• A glass of water (not used for drinking)
• A small plate for mixing paint and water
• A napkin to dry the brush

Happy Handicrafts Video: Brushwork for Beginners, Lesson #14

The Process

I chose a darker red and green for my violets simply because those were the colors I had.

With the red, starting at the top of the page, I began practicing putting the pedals in the right order around the center of the flower. The pedals are made with light touches of the brush, barely pressing it down. Each flower starts with the top two pedals, then a center pedal at the bottom, and finally the remaining two pedals, one on each side of the bottom pedal.

The leaves are made similarly to the dahlia in lesson #8 and lesson #9. This may be a good time to remind you that if you’re not already, it’s a good time to start! Each lesson builds on previous lessons, so starting at the beginning is the best way to do this. As you develop and practice each skill, you will find that the lessons have a natural progression.

Using our custom grid, we planned out all of the red flowers and buds and painted them first. Typically, we are not supposed to rinse our brush between colors, in order to avoid muddying the water, but in this case, I chose to rinse before starting with the green. The red and green together created a dark brown, which was not the look we were going for.

The final piece came out really nice, I think. Maybe not quite like the violets that I am familiar with, but the five pedals come together to make a lovely bouquet.

Come Join Us!

If you’re just finding us, you can get started with our first brushwork lesson and advance according to your skill. All of our videos are stored on YouTube at Happy Handicrafts. You don’t have to start with brushwork – we have paper sloyd, needle-felting, crochet, and more. Go explore and choose which playlist will be the best for you and your family! We’ll see you there!